Cornelius Van Til (1895-1987) was born in Grootegast, the Netherlands, and immigrated with his family to the United States in 1905. He attended Calvin College and Calvin Seminary before completing his studies at Princeton Theological Seminary and Princeton University with the ThM and PhD degrees. Drawn to the pastorate, Van Til spent one year in the ministry before taking a leave of absence to teach apologetics at Princeton Seminary. When the seminary reorganized, he was persuaded to join the faculty of the newly founded Westminster Theological Seminary. He remained there as professor of apologetics until his retirement in 1972. Van Til wrote more than twenty books, in addition to more than thirty syllabi. Among his best-known titles are The Defense of the Faith, A Christian Theory of Knowledge, and An Introduction to Systematic Theology.
As an assigned text in my introductory systematics course, The
Defense of the Faith typically meets with a combination of
frustration and delight. Frustrating because Van Til often engages
ideas, terms, and conversation partners unknown to contemporary
(especially non-Reformed) readers, this work also has a
cumulatively delightful effect in exposing the pretensions of human
autonomy and the grandeur of God's sovereign grace. In his careful,
thorough, and sympathetic notes, Professor Oliphint has done us all
a tremendous service: turning down the frustration and turning up
the delight!--Michael S. Horton, Ph.D. J. Gresham Machen Professor
of Systematic Theology and Apologetics Westminster Seminary
California
Cornelius Van Til's The Defense of the Faith (1955) was his first
published apologetic, therefore of great importance to Van Til
interpreters. But for many it was difficult, even bewildering. Van
Til's vocabulary was not only philosophical, but idealist, at a
time when idealism was no longer in vogue. And many of Van Til's
conversation partners and critics were not widely known then, and
are even less known today. So later editions greatly abridged the
Defense, with loss of valuable content. But now the original
version is back, with Scott Oliphint's excellent introduction and
many explanatory footnotes. Now Van Til becomes much more
understandable, and his opponents too. The dialogues between Van
Til and the other figures become really exciting again. How
stimulating it must have been to have been part of that dialogue in
the early days of Reformed apologetics! We need that stimulus now,
even more than they did in the 1950s, if we are to deal with
unbelief in a God-honoring way.--John M. Frame, professor of
systematic theology and philosophy, Reformed Theological Seminary,
Orlando
If Cornelius Van Til is the most original apologist of the
twentieth century, The Defense of the Faith is arguably his most
important book. This new edition provides an enormous service to
the reader. The somewhat challenging the text is abundantly
illuminated by Scott Oliphint, who is no doubt the leading expert
on Van Til in our times.--William Edgar, Professor of Apologetics,
Westminster Theological Seminary
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